Meet the GOALS Dream Team and help us send them to school again in 2015 - 2016!

What is the GOALS Dream Team?The GOALS Dream Team school scholarship program seeks to break the cycle of poverty by providing school merit and need-based school tuition scholarships to students with strong grades, early leadership skills, and a demonstrated commitment to local development.

GOALS is committed to ensuring that each of our scholarship students succeed in all areas of their life, and are committed to seeing each one graduate from high school to create a better future for themselves and their communities.

Who is GOALS helping?This fall, 29 students will return to school with a GOALS scholarship.

Sondy pulls all-nighters during exam times, even though he studies by candlelight at night.

Wisly worked odd jobs during the summer to put himself through primary school since his mother passed away.

Venise believes having an education will make her a better mother for the child she had at 14.

Junia dreams of becoming a nurse, having struggled with her own health.

Their stories of triumph over adversity are both heartbreaking and inspiring. Of these 29 students, none live in permanent housing: All of them live in tarp, tin, or wooden structures. None of the students have electricity in their villages or running water in their homes. Nine of them have lost at least one parent, only eight have parents who ever attended school and every single one of them will be the first in their family to graduate from high school.

Why do students need scholarships?In Haiti, school can be prohibitively expensive at any age. The country’s literacy rate is 53% and secondary school participation is just 19%. Many rural areas lack schools, and poor communities can't afford the tuition and the transportation costs to commute. In the village of Destra, where GOALS works, there are no primary schools and no secondary schools. The nearest paved road is nearly two miles away.

While primary school fees are more affordable, around $60 a year, secondary school fees are costly - around $350, and transport costs, books, school uniforms and exam fees add to the burden. Many parents tell GOALS they are forced to choose between feeding their children or sending them to school. Children from larger families often take turns going to school, with one child attending one year and another child the next.

How can I help?Each one of these extraordinary students needs help paying school fees, books and uniform costs for the 2015 - 2016 school year.

You can sponsor an individual student or make a general donation to the GOALS Dream Team School Scholarship program.